CHICAGO – His team had won for the fourth time in six games, posted a season-high hit total and continued to swing the bats with authority. Inserting the seldom-used Miguel Cairo at first base was a brilliant move. Mariano Rivera posted his sixth save. And the Yankees had beaten a lefty for the first time away from The Bronx.

So what did Joe Torre gush about after a 7-3 win over the White Sox in front of a crowd of 30,895 last night at U.S. Cellular Field? Rookie right-hander Tyler Clippard.

Seventeen hits were indeed nice. Alex Rodriguez’s 3-for-5, three-RBI night that included his 21st homer was appreciated. Robinson Cano and Bobby Abreu stayed hot. Johnny Damon had three hits. Cairo went 2-for-4 and started a pair of 3-6-1 double plays.

Yet, sitting in his cramped office, Torre praised Clippard, a 22-year-old right-hander who makes up for not throwing enough strikes with a willingness to compete.

“I think we have a special kid on our hands,” Torre said of Clippard, who improved to 3-1 by limiting the soft-swinging White Sox to one run and five hits in five innings – and helping the Yankees reduce the Red Sox’ lead in the AL East to 11½ games after Boston’s 2-0 loss in Oakland.

Clippard also walked three and fanned four.

Poor pitching is the biggest reason the Yankees started the night 12½ games behind the Red Sox. Injuries and Kei Igawa’s ineffectiveness have caused the Yankees to use Chase Wright, Phil Hughes, Jeff Karstens, Darrell Rasner and Matt DeSalvo. All have some degree of big league success. However, after the much-heralded Hughes, it appears Clippard has slid into the No. 2 spot among the young Yankees hurlers.

“The last two starts before this were very poor starts,” Clippard said. “I am capable of a lot more.”

Clippard erased two one-out singles in the first when he induced cleanup hitter Jermaine Dye to hit into a 3-6-1 double play. A pair of two-out walks in the second were negated. A.J. Pierzynski’s leadoff single in the fourth led to the only run Clippard allowed. And he ended the night by feeding Dye a ground ball to Rodriguez that stranded two more runners.

“He threw the ball very well, he has been impressive,” said Rodriguez, who drove in a run with a double to center in the sixth, another with a single in the seventh and crushed his 21st homer to left in the ninth. “He is only going to get better when he gets his curveball over.”

Gone after five because he threw 89 pitches, Clippard took a seat in the dugout and watched the Yankees score four runs in the sixth against lefty Mark Buehrle to fracture a 1-1 tie.

Before recording an out, Damon doubled, Derek Jeter bunted for a single, Abreu singled and Rodriguez doubled. Jorge Posada contributed a sacrifice fly and Hideki Matsui drove in the fourth run with a single.

“Right now we are poised to do something good,” Torre said after watching the 17-hit attack.

The victory in a game started by a southpaw left the Yankees with a 1-7 ledger on the road and 4-9 overall.

“There is a lot of fight and intensity,” Jeter said. “We are having good at-bats.”

Who knows if the Yankees can climb off the canvas and give the Red Sox a fight. The smart money says they can’t. And nobody can handicap the AL wild-card race in the first week of June.

However, the groove Kevin Long’s hitters are in is nice. Yet, the Yankees’ season will be defined by their pitching. That’s why Torre was gushing over what Clippard gave his club.